Should “Hebrew” be read as “Aramaic” in the New Testament?

Introduction

In this article we counter the assumption operative in two recent English translations (NIV, NET) summed up in the footnote text “For ‘Hebrew’ we should read ‘Aramaic’”. There is a family of words to discuss and we first set out the correct renderings before showing the choices made by the NIV and NET and contrasting these with the KJV.

A Family of “Hebrew” Type Words

(1)      Greek: ~Ebrai?sti
Transliteration: Hebraisti
Translation: Hebrew (tongue)

Recent English versions give ‘Aramaic’ in the main text for this word, although translators know ‘Hebraisti’ (‘Hebrew’) is in the Greek text(s) that they are using; sometimes this is footnoted. The Greek for ‘Aramaic’ – ‘Suristi’ – is never used in the Greek New Testament.

Whilst Aramaic was a language of multilingual Palestine, Josephus, Philo and the NT make no mention of any Aramaic Targum(s) — translations of Hebrew Bible — in the synagogue.  Aramaic Targums only become well established after 70 C.E. and into the Middle Ages’ diaspora.

(2)      Greek: th/| ~Ebrai<di diale,ktw|
Transliteration: tē Hebraidi dialéktō
Translation: Hebrew/Hebrew language

This expression refers to the language spoken by Paul and Jesus. The Hebrew of the 1st cent. C.E. Israel is a form of (what has been described as) ‘Late Biblical Hebrew’ (LBH) developing towards ‘Rabbinic’/‘Mishnaic’ Hebrew. More widely, but notably at Qumran, Hebrew is spoken. The literature there is over 90% Hebrew; some Aramaic; some Greek. Aramaic Targum (translation) fragments of Job and Leviticus have been found, but no other Hebrew Bible books translated into Aramaic.[1]

(3)      Greek: :Eber
Transliteration: Eber (Heb root: ‛br/ Greek stem: ebr)
Translation: Heber/Eber

This name occurs in Luke 3:35. Genealogically and linguistically, ‘Eber’ links to ‘Hebrew’ and ‘Hebrews’;[2] in Greek, Eber & ~Ebrai?sti have the same stem: Ebr.

 (4)      Greek: ~Ebrai/oi / tou.j ~Ebrai,ouj
Transliteration: Hebraioi / tous Hebraious
Translation: Hebrews / the Hebrews

The expression ‘tous Hebraious’ occurs in Acts 6:1 and there is a racial contrast between the Hellenists. The NET has the contrast set out as, “the Greek-speaking Jews against the native Hebraic Jews”. Here the NET avoids commitment to ‘Hebrew speaking’ with its ‘native Hebraic Jews’.

(5)       Greek: ~Ebrai/oj evx ~Ebrai,wn
Transliteration: Hebraios  ex Hebraiōn
Translation: ‘Hebrew of the Hebrews’

This expression is used by Paul in Phil 3:5. He does not say that he was an ‘Aramaen of the Aramaens’ which would be a claim to be Syrian (Su,roj), but rather that he was racially of the family ‘of Israel’.[3]

Translation Choices

We have compared below three versions and their rendering of the family of “Hebrew” type words—KJV, NIV and NET. Their respective pedigrees are,

KJV: (1611) The Byzantine Majority Greek text represents the text type reflected among the vast majority of extant manuscripts. It is from this family of Byzantine texts that the early printed Greek New Testaments (the so called “Textus Receptus” editions) and early English versions such as the Bishop’s, Geneva, Coverdale, and King James Version derive.

New International Version: “(beginning in 1965) … [involved] Christian Reformed Church and the National Associations of Evangelicals… new translation in contemporary English…by over a hundred scholars…Greek text…an eclectic one….Where existing manuscripts differ, the translators made their choice of readings according to accepted principles of New Testament textual criticism”.[4]

New English Translation: “(internet aimed and tested via www.bible.org website began 1994) is a completely new translation of the Bible…[by] more than 25 biblical scholars – experts in the original biblical languages – It unlocks the riches of the Bible’s truth from entirely new perspectives…it became clear that a free online Bible would be needed…copyrighted Bibles can’t be quoted in a huge collection of online studies…in its testing process all working drafts of the…NET project listened to its readers”.

 

Greek: ~Ebrai?sti
KJV Hebrew: John 5:2 Bethesda; 19:13 Gabbatha, 17 Golgotha, 20 superscription; [20:16 no language given for ‘Rabonni’]
Hebrew: Rev. 9:11 Abaddon (Job 28:2); 16:16 Armageddon (Zech 12:11)
NIV Aramaic: John 5:2 Bethesda; 19:13 Gabbatha, 17 Golgotha, 20 Superscription; ‘Aramaic’ put for ‘Rabboni’ in 20:16, yet their eclectic Greek text has: Hebraisti.
Hebrew: Rev. 9:11 Abaddon (Job 28:2);
16:16 Armageddon (Zech 12:11)
NET Aramaic: John 5:2 Bethesda; 19:13 Gabbatha, 17 Golgotha, 20 Superscription; ‘Aramaic’ put for ‘Rabboni’ in 20:16, yet ‘Hebraisti’ features in their Greek text(s).
Hebrew: Rev. 9:11 Abaddon (Job 28:2);
16:16 Armageddon (Zech 12:11)

 

th/| ~Ebrai<di diale,ktw| :Eber
KJV Hebrew:
Paul:
Acts 21:40; 22:2.
Jesus:
Acts 26:14 – 15		 Luke 3:35
GNT & LXX reflect Hebrew ‘Eber’ Gen 11:15.
NIV Aramaic:
Paul:
Acts 21:40; 22:2.
Jesus:
Acts 26:14 – 15		 Luke 3:35
GNT & LXX reflect Hebrew ‘Eber’ Gen 11:15.
NET Aramaic:
Paul:
Acts 21:40; 22:2.
Jesus:
Acts 26:14 – 15		 Luke 3:35
GNT & LXX reflect Hebrew ‘Eber’ Gen 11:15.

 

~Ebrai/oi /
tou.j ~Ebrai,ouj		 ~Ebrai/oj evx ~Ebrai,wn
KJV 2 Cor 11:22 Are they Hebrews? so am I. Are they Israelites? so am I. Are they the seed of Abraham? so am I. Phil 3:5 Circumcised the eighth day, of the stock of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, an Hebrew of the Hebrews.
NIV 2 Cor 11:22 Are they Hebrews? So am I. Are they Israelites? So am I. Are they Abraham’s descendants? So am I. Phil 3:5 circumcised on the eighth day, of the people of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of Hebrews.
NET 2 Cor 11:22 Are they Hebrews? So am I. Are they Israelites? So am I. Are they descendants of Abraham? So am I. Phil 3:5 I was circumcised on the eighth day, from the people of Israel and the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of Hebrews.

Conclusion

Our conclusion is that NIV and NET versions are contrary and inconsistent in switching to ‘Aramaic’ because,

(a) they do not always render the Greek ‘Hebraisti’ as ‘Hebrew’, and

(b) the Greek for ‘Aramaic’ is ‘Suristi’ and  is never used in the GNT.

GNT’s ‘tongue’ & ‘language’ refer to native or national speech groups as understood on a titular basis (John 19:20), ranking Hebraisti with Greek and Latin.

The footnote found in the NET and NIV, “For ‘Hebrew’ read ‘Aramaic’”, reflects the translators’ analytically indecisive policies.

[1] See A. Sáenz-Badillos, A History of the Hebrew Language (Cambridge Cambridge University Press, 1993).

[2] The name of Ebla’s great king Eb-ri-um (or Ibrium), third millennium B.C.E., resembles the name ‘Eber’, the Hebrews’ ancestor. In a related Semitic language, Eblaite/Eblan, ‘Eb-ri-um’ shares the same root letters as ‘Eber’ and ‘Hebrew’.

[3] Cp. ‘Naaman the Syrian’ in 2 Kg 5:20 and Luke 4:27; ‘Laban the Syrian’ in Gen 25:20, who is related to Israel (Jacob) and speaks Aramaic (Gen 31:47).

[4] Cited 17th March 2009 from http://www.ibs.org/niv/background.php.